This paper describes a methodology : "creative motivation research" in which a group of consumers using non-verbal techniques in a prospective and goal-oriented setting are led to express their motivations, desires and fears concerning a product and/or product field. Bridging the gap between research findings and their creative application is achieved by a similar approach with the working team involved on the project which allows to take both the research findings and the factual constraints into account. An application of this approach to an actual problem is presented : the positioning of a new brand of deodorant in France.
The purpose of this paper is to suggest a sequence of creation which will enable the intermediary (the Creative Director, the copy-chief, the Account supervisor) to obtain advertisements which will satisfy the criteria of both the creative man and the research man. Such immaterial things as inspiration, imagination, taste, are difficult to regulate and to codify. However if creative people work in total freedom, results can be very disappointing marketing wise, I have tried to devise a process acceptable for both the marketing man and the creative man. If we want to obtain results we need a professional approach. As we all know, in advertising creation, genius is no substitute for talent.
Our Basic Research Group was asked to improve decision making on advertising activities by marketing and advertising people by working out model concepts of the process of advertising effects as well as to develop adequate test procedures. Since there was a very strong need for decision aids in this field, this research group was compelled to adapt working methods which vary considerably from those normally practised in research at universities, namely that the slightest progress in research had immediately to be put to practical use due to the pressure of practical requirements .
We believe it is dangerous to set research and creativity against each other, and we think it is equally wrong to omit one of these stages in decision-making.
Let me first of all express my sincere appreciation of Mr. Stapel's paper. I consider it to be a most valuable contribution to the subject we are dealing with at this seminar - not at least because of the important empirical material which is presented. As we all know, however, It is an extremely difficult subject we are concerned with owing to the many ins and outs which are connected with the communication process. Consequently it is also much more easy to criticise than to give a fruitful contribution to our seminar. It is my hope, however, that when I have finished my contribution you will not have the impression that my remarks - though a little critical - have a destructive nature - at least this has never been my intention.
This paper aims to examine in rather more detail the reasons for some of the unhappy relationships, and suggests five specific approaches which could make progress in eliminating the underlying causes. There seem to be three main areas of troubles : 1. Objectives; 2. Theories about how advertising works; 3. Language and communication.
My paper especially deals with the second stage in the advertising cycle, "Creative development". When it is the researcher's job to assess rough campaigns in order to stimulate new creative ideas and eliminate creative errors. Telpex is the combination of videotape-production combined with small-sample qualitative consumer research, developed by the London Press Exchange and now used for producing and researching layout commercials speedily and inexpensively for clients in England, the Continent and, since April this year , in the United States.
n citing the case of the Gold Cup, our intention is to contribute to this seminar by indicating how this relational problem may be overcome and suggest the feasibility of a working methodology which can greatly enhance the creation of advertising and benefit both the creative and research functions simultaneously. A large manufacturer in the confectionary line recently called us in and instructed us to prepare an advertising campaign for one of his products. This case , I believe , is worthy of mention in connection with the seminar's topic regarding the role of the researcher and research in the creation of advertising. It illustrates that with very little foreknowledge of a clients problems by either of them an integrated creative-research team can operate as a composite unit solving those problems commonly underscored as belonging either to the one or the other.
Ogilvy & Mather Limited is a large UK advertising agency, part of a group which includes large agencies in three other countries with smaller offices in a further three countries. Six months ago the London agency reorganised the way in which creative research was handled. This reorganisation followed a period in which a careful study was made of the creative research operation in the other three large agencies in the group. This paper gives a summary of the problems identified during the study, an account of the solution adopted in the London agency and a report on the operation of the new system.
To produce an effective advertisement for a product or service the creative man needs the following information. 1. Who the advertising is to be aimed at - and the more he comprehends the nature of the target audience, the easier it is for him to strike the right communication level; 2. The relevant ideas held by this target audience; 3. The ideas they need to hold to convert them into or retain them as - consumers; 4. The relative importance of these ideas; 5. The significance of the semantics in this area; 6. The significance of visual stimuli (symbolism) in this area. While this list may be a statement of the obvious, it is rare indeed for the creative man to receive his brief in these terms - or indeed to have all this information available to him. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how mathematical models and the processes leading to their construction can provide the information listed above in a readily digestible form.
To summarise, the essential conclusion that I have tried to argue towards is that the dichotomy between the creative man and the research man is false. The research man has got to understand what the creative man needs as he has to provide it. The creative man has got to know what research is about, how it is done, how long it takes, why it costs what it does and what is the worth of its findings if he is to make any use of it. It is thus essential that these two animals are at least in part able to perform each other tricks. By getting the creative man to play at being a research man it becomes possible to improve the quality of the real research that is carried out by the agency and secondly, it considerably improves the communication between the research department and the creative groups within the agency.